Trails
Background * Trail Development Program a city of Pittsburgh site. * Trails-plank * Mayor Tom Murphy on Trails Links * Allegheny Land Trust * Blog entry on steps from Trib news of March 26, 2005. Media * Route 28 trail span faces a few hurdles, July 17, 2006, by Ervin Dyer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette -- A couple of hurdles must still be cleared to build a bridge that links nature, bike and riverfront trails in Herrs Island and Millvale along the Route 28 corridor. One is determining if CSX and Norfolk Southern railways will grant access to build on their property and the other remains the uncertainty over how the connector bridge will be funded. * Friends of the Riverfront, a decade-old group founded to bring more activities to Pittsburgh waterways. It's long been a dream of that group that a concrete and metal pedestrian bridge over the back channel of the Allegheny River will connect trails from Millvale to Herrs Island / Washington's Landing. When the plans to redo Route 28 were rolled out in the spring of 2006, it was PennDOT's desire to complete the hiking trail. But, as Mr. Cessna said he explained in the meeting, there were unexpected impediments, such as gaining right-of-way access from CSX and Norfolk Southern railways, which own some of the property linked to the redesign. If the railways use the land they own for running tracks or maintenance roads, which is expected, it will force the connector trail to Herrs Island and Millvale to be built a little closer to the river. Rudy Husband, a spokesman for Norfolk Southern, said that PennDOT does need the railways property to reconfigure the route. There are currently two Norfolk Southern tracks that run along the Route 28 corridor, but there is room for three. As currently conceived, building the nature trail connector could cause the railway to lose availability for a third track, which the railway does not want to do. There are no plans to add a third track now, said Mr. Husband, "but we're not going to approve the possibility to hinder our network." Without the access, the nature trail connector would be forced closer to the river, which would require construction of a retaining wall. The wall would begin at the 31st Street Bridge and would continue for about 1 mile north to Millvale. The wall, which is expected to be about 10 feet high in some sections, is expected to cost $2 million. It's money that PennDOT doesn't have, said Mr. Cessna, who told meeting participants that the Route 28 project is already underfunded. Reconstruction of Route 28 is expected to cost at least $120 million by the time it is completed in 2011. The project will eliminate traffic signals between Troy Hill and Millvale, and shift roadways and traffic patterns to allow motorists to travel a now congested two-mile stretch of East Ohio Street in about three minutes. Mr. Cessna said PennDOT could possibly fund the wall's design, but would need for advocates of the nature trail to seek independent, federal or other funding. Elsewhere * Md. seeks to close gap in bike trail HAGERSTOWN, Md. -- Supporters of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park are seeking state help in closing a nearly three-mile gap in the towpath that has sent hikers and bikers on dangerous detours for more than a decade. Washington County's delegation to the General Assembly voted last week to request a $200,000 bond bill to pay half the cost of an engineering study for rebuilding a washed-out trail section along a stretch of the Potomac River called the Big Slackwater. category:wellness